OS X El Capitan - Technical Specifications

General Requirements

• OS X v10.6.8 or later

• 2GB of memory

• 8.8GB of available storage

• Some features require an Apple ID; terms apply.

• Some features require a compatible Internet service provider; fees may apply.

Mac Hardware Requirements

For details about your Mac model, click the Apple icon at the top left of your screen, choose About This Mac, then choose More Info. These Mac models are compatible with OS X El Capitan:

• MacBook (Early 2015)

• MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)

• MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)

• MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)

• Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)

• iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)

• Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)

• Xserve (Early 2009)

Feature Requirements

Handoff and Instant Hotspot

Supported by the following Mac models:

• MacBook (Early 2015)

• MacBook Pro (2012 or newer)

• MacBook Air (2012 or newer)

• Mac mini (2012 or newer)

• iMac (2012 or newer)

• Mac Pro (Late 2013)

Handoff requires an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with a Lightning connector and iOS 8 or later.

Instant Hotspot requires an iPhone or iPad with cellular connectivity with a Lightning connector and iOS 8.1 or later. Requires Personal Hotspot service through your carrier.

Phone Calling

Phone calling requires an iPhone with iOS 8 or later and an activated carrier plan.

SMS

SMS requires an iPhone with iOS 8.1 or later and an activated carrier plan.

AirDrop

AirDrop between Mac computers and iOS devices is supported by the following Mac models:

• MacBook (Early 2015)

• MacBook Pro (2012 or newer)

• MacBook Air (2012 or newer)

• Mac mini (2012 or newer)

• iMac (2012 or newer)

• Mac Pro (Late 2013)

AirDrop to iOS devices requires an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with a Lightning connector and iOS 7 or later.

AirDrop between two Mac computers is supported by the following Mac models:

• MacBook (Early 2015)

• MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum or newer)*

• MacBook Pro (Late 2008 or newer)*

• MacBook Air (Late 2010 or newer)

• Mac mini (Mid 2010 or newer)

• iMac (Early 2009 or newer)

• Mac Pro (Early 2009 with AirPort Extreme card, or Mid 2010 or newer)

Time Machine

Requires an additional hard drive or AirPort Time Capsule (sold separately).

Metal

Supported by the following Mac models:

• MacBook (Early 2015)

• MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 or newer)

• MacBook Air (Mid 2012 or newer)

• Mac mini (Late 2012 or newer)

• iMac (Late 2012 or newer)

• Mac Pro (Late 2013 and newer)

Photo Booth

Requires a FaceTime or iSight camera (built in or external), USB video class (UVC) camera, or FireWire DV camcorder.

FaceTime

Video calls require a built-in FaceTime camera, an iSight camera (built in or external), a USB video class (UVC) camera, or a FireWire DV camcorder; and broadband Internet connection.

Learn more about FaceTime

Boot Camp

Supports existing Boot Camp installations with Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10. New Boot Camp installations require Windows 8 or Windows 10 (sold separately).

Exchange Support

Requires Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Update Rollup 4, Exchange Server 2010, or Exchange 2013. Auto-setup requires enabling the Autodiscovery feature of Microsoft Exchange Server.

Spotlight Suggestions

Requires a broadband Internet connection.

AirPlay

AirPlay Mirroring requires an Apple TV (2nd generation or later). Supported by the following Mac models:

• MacBook (Early 2015)

• MacBook Pro (Early 2011 or newer)

• MacBook Air (Mid 2011 or newer)

• Mac mini (Mid 2011 or newer)

• iMac (Mid 2011 or newer)

• Mac Pro (Late 2013)

AirPlay for web video requires an Apple TV (2nd generation or later).

Peer-to-Peer AirPlay requires a Mac (2012 or later) with OS X Yosemite or later and an Apple TV (3rd generation rev A, model A1469 or later) with Apple TV software 7.0 or later.

Power Nap

Supported by the following Mac models:

• MacBook (Early 2015)

• MacBook Pro with Retina display (Mid 2012 or newer)

• MacBook Air (Late 2010 or newer)

• Mac mini (Late 2012 or newer)

• iMac (Late 2012 or newer)

• Mac Pro (Late 2013)

Gestures

Requires a Multi-Touch trackpad, Force Touch trackpad, Magic Trackpad, or Magic Mouse.

Force Touch gestures require a Force Touch trackpad.

VoiceOver gestures require a Multi-Touch trackpad, Force Touch trackpad, or Magic Trackpad.

Dictation

Dictation requires a microphone (built in or external).

Mac App Store

Available only to persons age 13 or older in the U.S. and many other countries.

What’s Included

Applications

• Automator

• Calculator

• Calendar

• Chess

• Contacts

• Dashboard

• Dictionary

• DVD Player

• FaceTime

• Font Book

• iBooks

• Image Capture

• iTunes

• Launchpad

• Mac App Store

• Mail

• Maps

• Messages

• Mission Control

• Notes

• Photo Booth

• Photos

• Preview

• QuickTime Player

• Reminders

• Safari

• Stickies

• System Preferences

• TextEdit

• Time Machine

Learn more about built-in apps

Utilities

• Activity Monitor

• AirPort Utility

• AppleScript Editor

• Audio MIDI Setup

• Bluetooth File Exchange

• Boot Camp Assistant

• ColorSync Utility

• Console

• Digital Color Meter

• Disk Utility

• Grab

• Grapher

• Keychain Access

• Migration Assistant

• System Information

• Terminal

• VoiceOver Utility

Languages

• Arabic

• Catalan

• Croatian

• Simplified Chinese

• Traditional Chinese

• Czech

• Danish

• Dutch

• English

• Finnish

• French

• German

• Greek

• Hebrew

• Hungarian

• Indonesian

• Italian

• Japanese

• Korean

• Malay

• Norwegian

• Polish

• Brazilian Portuguese

• Portuguese

• Romanian

• Russian

• Slovak

• Spanish

• Spanish (Mexico)

• Swedish

• Thai

• Turkish

• Ukrainian

• Vietnamese